Location, too much affordable housing threatens Yaphank approval

Though Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy’s plan to develop 250 acres of county-owned land in Yaphank into a mixed-use community just hatched after a four-year-long incubation, it may never fly.

Critics say Levy’s “Yaphank vision” has serious problems and the project faces an uphill battle for approval by the county Legislature and the Town of Brookhaven, which would have to rezone the property or create a Planned Development District.

Levy announced Tuesday that the development team for the project will be Legacy Village Real Estate Group, a partnership between Katter Development and the Beechwood Organization. The developers will build indoor and outdoor sports arenas, a 95-acre industrial park and 1,000 townhouses and condominiums, with 785 of the units sold to income-eligible families.

But opponents of the plan say one of its biggest problems is its location. The work-force housing project would be located between a county correctional facility and a garbage dump, part of 800 acres owned by Suffolk on both sides of Yaphank Avenue.

Richard Amper, who heads the Pine Barrens Society, said Levy’s site choice for the new community was a mistake. The land is in a designated groundwater protection area, he said, and is part of the Carmans River watershed, currently the object of a state-funded preservation effort.

“It’s halfway between the landfill and the county jail,” Amper said. “It’s the wrong thing in the wrong place.”

Another objection is the high percentage – about 80 percent – of affordable versus market-rate housing the county has insisted on building in Yaphank.

A mix of about 20 percent affordable with 80 percent market-rate is more sustainable than a community of mostly affordably priced homes, according to the Urban Land Institute.

Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, said as much as half of a new housing development could be affordable and still work, but he said the county’s plan may be too one-sided.

“Ideally you wouldn’t want to have one product type; you want to have a mix,” Alexander said.

Cris Damianos, a principal with Smithtown-based Damianos Realty Group, was part of a rival development team that bid on the Yaphank project. His team proposed to build about 3,000 units of housing, with about one-third to be affordable.

“During the past 3 1/2 years we have repeatedly communicated with the county to convey our belief that a mixed-use and mixed-income community is the best development for this site,” Damianos said in a statement. “The plan the county has chosen does not take those elements into account.”

In response, Levy said the firms that were selected have a solid track record of developing high-quality, sustainable communities.

“What is unsustainable, however, is the status quo course we are on of losing thousands of our young each year, who are forced off the Island because they cannot afford a place to live, and losing companies to other regions, because they cannot find an educated, talented work force,” Levy said.

Johan McConnell, president of the South Yaphank Civic Association, said she would like to see fewer homes because the plan is too ambitious and will tax the resources of the Brookhaven Fire Department.

And even though it took the county four years to choose a developer for the Yaphank project, some legislators such as Ed Romaine said Levy still hasn’t included the Legislature in the process. Romaine said the county executive put the cart before the horse in announcing the development before being approved by the Legislature.

“How do you put out an RFP (request for proposals) for property that hasn’t been declared surplus?” he asked.

Romaine, whose district covers a portion of the property, said the Yaphank project would have an enormous effect on the Longwood School District, which presents yet another problem. Under current zoning, the South Country School District gets the revenue from the industrial portion of the county property, while Longwood would get the children from the 1,000 homes planned on the residential side. Sources say the school districts have not agreed to share money or students from the development.

4 comments

I’m a disabled person not able to afford my own place. I was woundering if thier would be studio’s or one bedroom apartents for single ersons on disablity or social security thankyou for your time Charles Rizzo 5 Sagewood Dr Shirley NY, 11967

This is not a good location,When the wind blows the right way you can smell the dumps.I can see the greed kicking in,You people want 80% market rate.You can build the best looking units in the world but Who is going to buy one of these when you can smell garbage. Remember. You can paint grab to make it look good but its still grab.

There is a very easy solution to where affordable housing should be placed, although it might be a bigger pill to swallow for those who wish to make profits off of their interests. If the land is unsuitable for building affordable housing due to problems of any type (assuming that the standards for all buildable land are truly STANDARDS), then the county should permanently condemn the land for all building and improvements of ANY kind. That way no one can sell any of the land for profit at any rate and no property taxes can ever be levied on it. Affordable housing should be developed everywhere – not in select few places. The lack of affordable housing does one thing on Long Island – It destroys its future by making the decision for young people (as well as people in need) to leave for them. Hence, the reputation Long Island already has for a population of people and government that doesn’t care if it doesn’t profit.